Streets squares and districts to visit Uzbekistan

It is undoubtedly the most beautiful square of the city, and in any case the most monumental. The Mir-i-Arab madrasa faces the huge Kalon mosque and its terrible minaret, "the tower of death". Many historical films have been shot in these places, and even if the horsemen of Mohamed Chaybani Khan are not there every day, the students of the madrasa and the pilgrims who go to the mosque take care of the atmosphere. In the evening, the atmosphere is magical: we stroll on the deserted esplanade while enjoying the night illuminations of the minaret and the mosque.

The minaret Kalon. Five times a day, four muezzin climbed the 105 steps of its interior staircase to call to prayer. Their voices carried more than 8 km and the other minarets relayed the call in a radius of 16 km. The minaret was built in 1127 by the Karakhanid Arslan Khan and was not only used to call the faithful to prayer. In the ^17th century, it was from its top that the condemned and other impure were thrown out. The minaret was also used as an observation point during the day and as a lighthouse at night. Every evening, a basin filled with oil was lit in the center of the rotunda located at the top. The caravans arriving from the desert could thus locate themselves, like ships approaching the ports. Genghis Khan, who quickly appreciated its strategic importance, spared the minaret while no other monument of Bukhara survived his passage. 48 m high, with foundations sinking several meters into the ground, the minaret bears its name well, kalon meaning "big". Slightly conical in shape, it is decorated with a succession of rings of fired bricks with different geometric patterns. These bricks were made with camel milk and bull blood! All this terrible beauty did not prevent General Frunze from firing a cannon at the symbol of the power of the holy Bukhara. Badly damaged, the minaret was restored in the 1930s. In the 1970s, an earthquake was not more lenient and made him lose his head, restored since then by the care of Unesco and equipped, since 2019, with a night lighting that does not let escape any detail! For security reasons, it is unfortunately no longer possible to climb the spiral staircase leading to the top of the minaret to enjoy the splendid view offered on Bukhara and the domes of the madrasa.

Kalon Mosque. This imposing jami mosque, the largest after Bibi Khanoum, was rebuilt several times. It is said that a first mud-brick mosque was built in 713, probably on the site of a Buddhist or Zoroastrian temple, a frequent appropriation in this century of religious conquest. The mihrab of the Kalon mosque would have been located further east, at the Ark. In the ^ninth century, the mosque, with an area of 2 ha, was rebuilt according to new plans. The numerous pillars supporting the structure were made of wood, a rare commodity that forced to reduce the surface to one hectare. It is said that a fire destroyed it in the ^11th century, or that the minaret collapsed and almost destroyed it completely. In any case, it was rebuilt in the ^12th century by Arslan khan and destroyed again when Genghis khan passed by in 1220. In 1514, the khan chaybanide Abdullah khan made build a new mosque whose dimensions (130 m on 80) answered the "golden number"; in 1545, his successor made decorate the mihrab of mosaics of it. The immense interior courtyard and the covered galleries with 288 domes could accommodate more than 10,000 faithful. The mosque has seven doors, one facing the sunrise, two facing the sunset and two on each side wing. In the right wing of the mosque, a very deep well is said to contain holy water; it is poured into a huge stone bowl ensuring that it stays fresh. The pilgrims make a vow while drinking it. In the center, a rotunda with eight doors - symbolizing the gates of paradise - was built by the last khan of Bukhara in memory of the martyrs who died during the destruction of the mosque by Genghis Khan. During the Soviet era, from 1924 to 1989, the mosque remained closed, and was transformed into a warehouse and a mill during the Second World War. The blue dome, the Kok Goumbaz, dominating the mihrab, and its portal have been restored with funding from Unesco, told us a holy man meditating in the shadow of a dome, and that is also why, he added, it was not returned to worship, and that non-believers can still admire the most beautiful mosque.

Madrasa Mir-i-Arab. It was built in 1535 by Sheikh Abdullah, a Yemeni religious leader and spiritual guide of Ubaydullah khan. The khan financed its construction through the sale of 3,000 Persian prisoners, Shiite Muslims who were considered infidels and therefore could be sold as slaves. During the Soviet era, this madrasa was the only one authorized to provide religious education in Central Asia. Today, it enjoys a considerable reputation and the students are very numerous. Its access is forbidden to visitors. From the outside, its appearance is imposing and its two blue domes make a beautiful echo to the Kok Goumbaz of the Kalian mosque. The khan Ubaydullah khan and the sheik Abdullah Mir-i-Arab are buried there.

The Jewish quarter of Bukhara is located in the south of the Liab-i-Khaouz basin. It is a picturesque tangle of alleys where the city's large Jewish community used to gather. Synagogues, Jewish schools and houses of all social classes were there. The history of the Jews of Bukhara goes back to the Persian emperor Cyrus who, during his conquest of Babylon, is said to have freed the Jews of the East and encouraged them to settle in his lands in Central Asia. The Jews of Bukhara (a name that actually refers to a larger community than just the Jews living in Bukhara to include all the Jews of Central Asia) are believed to be descendants of those Babylonian Jews who arrived in the ^fifth century B.C., making it one of the oldest known Jewish communities.

Over time, other Eastern Jewish communities (from Yemen, Morocco or Iran) have grown the original Persian-speaking community. The Jews of Bukhara spoke Bukhariot, a dialect with Persian roots which they wrote in Hebrew letters, especially for poetic texts. Even today, very few of them speak Uzbek, but they do speak Russian and Tajik.

The first synagogue was built in 1620; before that, Jews officiated in mosques. The community grew in trade and specialized in fabric dyeing, but was extremely isolated from the rest of the Eastern Jews and widely persecuted. She is obliged to live in a certain neighbourhood, is not allowed to ride horses, cannot wear silk. Like the Marannes, converted to Catholicism but practising Judaism in secret to escape the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisition of the 15th century, some Jews converted to Islam. They are called the Chala here. In 1793, a Sephardic rabbi, Joseph Maimon, arrived in Bukhara and discovered a local cult mixed with Persian influences and Zoroastrianism. He decided to change all this and converted the Jews of Bukhara to the Sephardic liturgy practiced today.

The arrival of the Russians in the 19th century paradoxically appears to be good news for the community. Paradoxically because the Russian Empire and its pogroms are not a priori great supporters of Judaism. However, at the time, the Russians appeared to be less virulent towards the community and the Chalas could return to their original religion without fear of persecution. Unfortunately for them, the Jews of Bukhara are not at the end of their sentence and the arrival of the Bolsheviks sounds the death knell of the community. The 13 synagogues of Bukhara are closed, rich merchants sent to camps, religious practice forbidden. Tired of all these successive persecutions, the Jews of Bukhara migrated en masse to Israel and the United States upon independence. Today, there are about 50,000 in the New York area of Queens alone and 100,000 in Israel. There are less than 300 of them in Bukhara. The few remaining families take care of the two synagogues that have reopened, the school and the cemetery. The beautiful houses in the area have been bought and often transformed into charming guest houses. Today it is very pleasant to stroll through this maze of narrow streets to taste the atmosphere and the beautiful architecture. Most Jewish houses have been converted into guesthouses, so it is often possible to visit the interior.

The huge square, the ancient heart of Bukhara, seems quite empty. The residences of the Bukhariot nobles, the three madrasas and the mosque that surrounded it were destroyed at the beginning of the century. The only monument erected in the square was a statue of Lenin, which in turn disappeared in 1992. It was in this square, where there was also a very lively bazaar, that the public executions took place. Its only interest today is a metal tower from the top of which one can enjoy the view of the city, with the fortress guard house in the foreground.

Here you are at the end of the country: Karasu is a city straddling Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. There is no evidence of a shift from one to the other in architecture or urban planning. At the end of the main street, the border is only 10 meters away. You will find the workshop of one of the master cutlers of the city. With his son, they make the best pitchok in the region: the workshop has been recognized for 4 generations. Here the most traditionalist practices persist: one comes across women, or rather their silhouettes, wearing paranja.

Independence Square is a space reserved for annual celebrations. The construction of the Senate Palace has given it a new aesthetic, overhung by an arch dominated by humos, legendary birds from oriental tales. A few metres away stands the World War II War Memorial, where a flame burns permanently under a statue of a woman, symbolizing mothers who lost their children. The names of the missing are on golden plaques.

In the centre of Tashkent, on Amur Timur Square, a gigantic statue of Tamerlan on horseback replaced that of Karl Marx shortly after independence. Lovers of detail will note that the emperor is depicted with his right arm outstretched, which was impossible for him due to his infirmity. However, legend has it that the reason Tamerlan's armies were so strong was that each soldier, even with his right arm severed in battle, could continue to fight with his left hand as well, just like his leader.

To the west of the square stands the colossal Hotel Uzbekistan, whose architecture evokes an open book, while the concrete "interlacing" on the façade symbolizes the Koranic writing. To the right of the Hotel Uzbekistan, a brand new congress centre was inaugurated in 2011. Its structure with colonnades spaced out by large glass panels is dominated by a dome where two humos, the legendary birds of the Avesta, which have become one of the national symbols, are enthroned.

The Amur Timur square itself, once buried under the shade of hundred-year-old plane trees, has been completely redone, sacrificing these venerable trees in the process. People now stroll among the shrubs, but without much enthusiasm since the locals left the place. The official aim was to clear the view of the brand new congress centre from Karl Mark Avenue opposite, in defiance of the plane trees, so emblematic of Central Asian cities and unfortunately so often the victims of urban renovation.

The Chorsu district, located to the north of the bazaar, is one of the few districts to have emerged virtually intact from the 1966 earthquake. A walk through this labyrinth of blind alleys, most of which end up as dead ends, will give an idea of what the capital of Uzbekistan was like before the disaster that radically changed its face. At the heart of this district, probably the most interesting to visit in Tashkent, is the Barak Khan Madrasa, which is today the centre of the Grand Mufti of Central Asia and dates from the 16th century. Tourists can enter to take a look at the rose garden and the few open cells. Some of them have been renovated into real conference rooms. Opposite, the Tellia Sheikh Mosque dates from the 19th century. The Qur'an of the Caliph Osman, considered the oldest in the world, is kept there, but non-Muslims are not allowed to enter. A little further on, on the left side of the square, the Abu Bakhr Kaffal Shashi mausoleum dates from the 16th century and was erected in memory of one of the first imams, who died in 976, on the site of his tomb. The mosque facing the Barak Khan Madrasa is not a historical monument, it was built in 2007 as part of the renovation of the area and occupies the site of a former wasteland. It's by going deeper into the alleyways that start from the square that the walk takes on its full meaning, between the tchaikhanas where the aksakal, the elders who administer the life of the neighbourhood, meet.

In front of the palace gates, the great square was the venue for parades and military exercises as well as capital executions. In the centre of the square, a hole allowed the evacuation of blood during mass executions, such as those in 1717, when the 3,000 Russian soldiers of Prince Bekovich's expedition and the prince himself were beheaded. In the western corner, one can visit an insalubrious model prison dating from the 19th century, the zindan, a cousin of the rat hole of Bukhara where the unfortunate convicts rotted abandoned from the world of the living.